I visited Mexico once when I was a little kid. My dad, brothers, sister and I were down in southern

Courtesy of ABC News

California one summer visiting my uncle who lived in Anaheim, when my dad got this adventurous notion and declared that he’d like to see another country.

So off we went, to the land of awesome burritos and the birthplace of dollar Corona beers.

When we arrived at the border crossing, just south of San Diego, we all thought it was so cool that we were going to be in another country. We were going to be the envy of our classmates, who we’d presumed had never been out of their own neighborhoods, much less the United states. The border guard checked my dad’s driver’s license and in a few quick seconds, we arrived in Tijuana.

My father stopped just inside the border to get his bearings, and almost immediately we were approached by a Mexican fellow who began furiously washing our windshield with a newspaper. Dad tried to politely explain that we didn’t need our windshield washed, but the guy just continued, and when he was done, he held out his hand and smiled. We gave him a dollar, he nodded in thanks, and moved on to the next sucker.

Then came the tour guides. In case you didn’t know, almost everyone at the US/Tijuana border is a tour guide. We had at least four people approach our car, telling us they could take us to see all the sites that their beautiful country had to offer.

All this seemed a little strange to us Americans. When the last of the tour guides left, dad turned the car around and we headed back the United States. We’d seen enough. It was actually kind of scary being in another country for the first time, considering the experience we’d all just had.

This was back in the mid 1980s, when Mexico had a government that could halfway control its citizens. While we were there, we didn’t witness any kidnappings or drug deals. There weren’t gangs of cartel members with AK-47’s trying to carjack us or force us into being mules.

But all that has changed.

If you’ve turned on the news at any time in the last couple years, you know about the drug wars going on south of the US border. Hundreds of innocent people are being killed every week by the cartels, who have almost created a state of anarchy in a once peaceful country.

So what. That’s happening in Mexico, not here.

Nice attitude, Zippy.

But you’re wrong.

According to an article I read on AOL news today, the Mexican drug cartels are invading our country en masse as I write this post. While the government is busy arguing the politics surrounding illegal immigration, Mexican gangsters are growing marijuana in our national parks, and setting up intricate interstate drug trafficking routes that span the country. Drug intelligence officials say that cartels have infiltrated at least 230 cities across the US.

Along with the drugs, these cartels bring cash. Tons of it.

And it’s burning a hole in their collective pocket.

To get rid of some of that blood money, these cartels are hiring American teenagers to be hitmen for them. They’re paying American gangs to be their distribution networks. And they’re buying more guns. Military-issue assault rifles to be exact.

“Holy crap. This is an epidemic. Call out the National Guard! Let’s get some soldiers to the border to stop this RIGHT NOW!”

Hold on there, Rambo. We can’t do that. Most of our troops are overseas fighting for oil, instead of being here at home protecting American citizens. And while the cat’s away, the mice will play.

So, you may be wondering, has Washington even noticed?

Of course they have. Don’t you have any faith in our corrupt political leaders?

They noticed enough to say that according to federal standards, the Mexican cartels’ actions don’t

This was on the same page as the article where Washington claimed that "Mexican violence is not an emergency." Rather ironic.

If over 34,000 dead Mexican citizens, who died because of the violence just beyond our southern border, doesn’t qualify as an emergency, I don’t know what does. And now that crap is migrating north, into our own backyards. Even more of a reason to be alarmed.

Our government isn’t even worried about the cartels per se. They’re only worried about the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico. Well they won’t have to worry about that much any more, because the cartels have obviously found a new home. One with free medical benefits, food stamps, free housing, and more new customers than you can shake a stick at.

I can see only one solution to this problem. And it needs to be implemented immediately.

Bring our troops home and have them seal off the borders. Send our soldiers into Mexico to help quell the violence that will one day overrun our country.

We would be better off helping our neighbors than occupying a country that doesn’t want our assistance.